Escondido vs San Marcos

A side-by-side comparison of Escondido and San Marcos: population, income, housing, and more.

Escondido and San Marcos are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Escondido has the higher population (149,913 vs 94,078 in San Marcos). San Marcos has the higher median household income ($105,286 vs $84,477 in Escondido). San Marcos has the higher median home value ($792,400 vs $663,500 in Escondido).

Population, income & housing

	Escondido	San Marcos
Population	149,913	94,078
Median age	37.1 yrs	36.8 yrs
Median household income	$84,477	$105,286
Median home value	$663,500	$792,400
Median gross rent	$1,922	$2,191
Housing units	52,662	32,255
Homeownership rate	52.2%	63.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.8%	42.7%
Unemployment rate	4.5%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Escondido	San Marcos
Population	151,300 → 149,913 (-0.9%)	95,355 → 94,078 (-1.3%)
Median household income	$64,038 → $84,477 (+31.9%)	$78,797 → $105,286 (+33.6%)
Median home value	$450,200 → $663,500 (+47.4%)	$538,200 → $792,400 (+47.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,448 → $1,922 (+32.7%)	$1,704 → $2,191 (+28.6%)

Escondido

Population

151,300149,913

Median household income

$64,038$84,477

Median home value

$450,200$663,500

Median gross rent

$1,448$1,922

San Marcos

Population

95,35594,078

Median household income

$78,797$105,286

Median home value

$538,200$792,400

Median gross rent

$1,704$2,191

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Escondido	San Marcos
Under 5	6.5%	6.2%
5 to 17	16.3%	19.4%
18 to 24	8.5%	9.7%
25 to 34	15.1%	12.4%
35 to 44	14.4%	15.4%
45 to 54	12.3%	12.7%
55 to 64	12.7%	10.9%
65 to 74	8.2%	7.7%
75 and over	6.0%	5.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Escondido	San Marcos
White (non-Hispanic)	34.5%	44.4%
Black or African American	2.1%	1.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	6.9%	10.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.4%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.6%	5.6%
Hispanic or Latino	51.7%	37.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Escondido	San Marcos
No high school diploma	19.6%	11.9%
High school graduate	23.2%	16.9%
Some college or associate's	29.4%	28.4%
Bachelor's degree	18.3%	28.4%
Graduate or professional degree	9.5%	14.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Escondido	San Marcos
Drove alone	72.0%	69.8%
Carpooled	9.8%	7.9%
Public transit	1.5%	0.5%
Walked	1.6%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.5%
Worked from home	12.8%	18.7%
Other means	1.9%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Escondido	San Marcos
1-unit, detached	50.9%	51.1%
1-unit, attached	7.4%	10.2%
2 to 4 units	6.5%	3.9%
5 to 19 units	9.0%	8.3%
20 or more units	19.1%	15.8%
Mobile home & other	7.1%	10.8%

Poverty & households

	Escondido	San Marcos
Poverty rate	13.4%	10.2%
Average household size	2.90	2.99
Mean commute (minutes)	28	27
Median year structure built	1981	1994